Compliance defects in public-key cryptography

  • Authors:
  • Don Davis

  • Affiliations:
  • Independent Consultant, MA

  • Venue:
  • SSYM'96 Proceedings of the 6th conference on USENIX Security Symposium, Focusing on Applications of Cryptography - Volume 6
  • Year:
  • 1996

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Abstract

Public-key cryptography has low infrastructural overhead because public-key users bear a substantial but hidden administrative burden. A public-key security system trusts its users to validate each others' public keys rigorously and to manage their own private keys securely. Both tasks are hard to do well, but public-key security systems lack a centralized infrastructure for enforcing users' discipline. A compliance defect in a cryptosystem is such a rule of operation that is both difficult to follow and unenforceable. This paper presents five compliance defects that are inherent in public-key cryptography; these defects make public-key cryptography more suitable for server-to-server security than for desktop applications.